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Stephen F. Williams

Stephen Williams
Senior Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
In office
September 30, 2001 – August 7, 2020
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
In office
June 16, 1986 – September 30, 2001
Appointed byRonald Reagan
Preceded byMalcolm Richard Wilkey
Succeeded byJanice Rogers Brown
Personal details
Born
Stephen Fain Williams

(1936-09-23)September 23, 1936
New York City, U.S.
DiedAugust 7, 2020(2020-08-07) (aged 83)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
EducationYale University (BA)
Harvard University (JD)

Stephen Fain Williams (September 23, 1936 – August 7, 2020) was an American lawyer and jurist who was a U.S. circuit judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1986 until his death from COVID-19 in 2020.

Early life and career

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Williams was born in 1936 in New York City. His father, C. Dickerman Williams, was a prominent lawyer who later became the general counsel of the United States Department of Commerce. Williams graduated from Yale University in 1958 with a Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, where he was a member of the Manuscript Society. He then attended Harvard Law School, where he was classmates with future federal judges Anthony Kennedy, Laurence Silberman, A. Wallace Tashima, R. Lanier Anderson III, and Timothy B. Dyk. He was a member of the Harvard Law Review and graduated in 1961 with a Juris Doctor, magna cum laude.

Williams was in the United States Army Reserve as a Private E-2 from 1961 to 1962. He was in private practice at the law firm Debevoise & Plimpton from 1962 to 1966, and from 1966 to 1969 he was an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. From 1969 to his appointment to the bench, he taught at the University of Colorado School of Law. During this time, he also served as a visiting professor of law at UCLA, University of Chicago Law School, and Southern Methodist University and he was a consultant to the Administrative Conference of the United States and the Federal Trade Commission.

Federal judicial service

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Williams was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on February 19, 1986, to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated by Judge Malcolm R. Wilkey. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 13, 1986, and received commission on June 16, 1986. He assumed senior status on September 30, 2001.[1]

In March 2017, Williams questioned if the government could constitutionally keep all prisoner court filings secret when the court, unanimous in judgment but in divided opinions, found that the press could not access classified video of Jihad Ahmed Mustafa Dhiab being force fed during the Guantanamo Bay hunger strikes.[2][3]

Death

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Williams was diagnosed with COVID-19 in May 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Washington, D.C. He was admitted to Sibley Memorial Hospital and put on a ventilator. On August 7, 2020, after about two months in the hospital, he died from complications as a result of the virus.[4]

Author

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Williams was the author of numerous books and scholarly articles. His book, Liberal Reform in an Illiberal Regime, 1906–1915: The Creation of Private Property in Russia, was described by former acting Prime Minister of Russia Yegor Gaidar as "absolutely splendid".

References

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  1. ^ Bliss, M.L.; Kennedy, R.A.; Irvine, D.R. (2000). The American Bench; Judges of the Nation. Forster-Long. ISBN 9780931398421. ISSN 0160-2578. Retrieved 2015-05-15.
  2. ^ Note, Recent Case: D.C. Circuit Holds Press Cannot Unseal Classified Videos of Guantanamo Bay Detainee, 131 Harv. L. Rev. 902 (2018).
  3. ^ Dhiab v. Trump, 852 F.3d 1087 (D.C. Cir. 2017).
  4. ^ Kunkle, Fredrick (August 8, 2020). "Stephen F. Williams, longtime federal appeals judge in D.C., dies of coronavirus at 83". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 11, 2020.

Sources

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Legal offices
Preceded by Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
1986–2001 		Succeeded by